Comcast Settles Antitrust Lawsuit For $50 Million

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How to make money as a huge corporation: A.) Overcharge customers $875 million. B.) Settle antitrust case for $50 million. C.) PROFIT!

According to a 2003 class action lawsuit against Comcast, the cable giant's anti-competitive behavior in the Philadelphia area resulted in the company overcharging users to the tune of more than $875 million. The case has stumbled around the courts for several years now, though Comcast recently agreed to pay $50 million to settle the suit.
 
W.T.F. man our legal system is fucked up...not even going to bring up the guberment. :(
 
It's all too big to fail now. We put all these complicated regulations and rules to try and manage the behavior of these subversive large corporations - the problem is simply they're too large and wealthy. The wealth gives them power. Look at Citigroup - they inserted what they wanted to get repealed out of Dodd-Frank into the overall 2015 budget. So, if you don't want to pass that, you have to shut down the entire government. That's the "power"...ahem, I mean "speech" that money gives you.

And yeah, you overcharge $825M and it takes 10 years to figure it out in court? Bullshit.
 
Individual downloads a 99 cent song, the law allows them to get fined (in civil court) up to 100,000 times that amount = deterrent!


Corporation rips off customers to the tune of $875 million, forced to pay back about 1/17th that amount = Good business decision!
 
We've crafted an incredibly convoluted system that, essentially, has become "might(wealth) makes right". Morals are for people without money. Justice is for those with money. Etc.
 
$50 million was deemed an acceptable settlement by those "wronged". What's the problem?
 
875 million and only settle for 50 million in the 10 years of court tie up.. fuck this country and the dumb legal system..
 
875 million and only settle for 50 million in the 10 years of court tie up.. fuck this country and the dumb legal system..

Seriously. You don't get this type of treatment if you're an actual person. If I con you out of $1mil dollars, I don't get to get off by simply paying you $100k back.
 
$50 million was deemed an acceptable settlement by those "wronged". What's the problem?

That is what I thought when I read the headline there. Somebody claims that Comcast overcharged, they tried to fight it for 10 years and were getting nowhere. They were offered $50 million to just stop and they accepted it. If they actually had a chance to win they would have held out and gotten more.
 
Seriously. You don't get this type of treatment if you're an actual person. If I con you out of $1mil dollars, I don't get to get off by simply paying you $100k back.

Who says that they were owed that? If I sell you a car for $20,000 and then you learn that the car really was only worth $17,000. Do you have the right to sue me for $3000? Lets say that you do sue me and we are in court for 3 years, if I finally decide to give you $750 to make you go away so that I can stop dealing with this and you accept the $750 is that a problem?

In this case people took Comcast's service then said that they were making the prices higher in Philadelphia higher than they did in other areas. But if the people agreed to pay such prices then they at the time thought the prices were acceptable. It wasn't till they found that other places paid less that they had an issue with the prices. By the same logic, I guess we should all sue McDonalds as last time I got something at one in Chicago I noticed that they charge more there by a $1 or so. Or maybe people that live in cities should sue that they pay more for rent than rural areas.

Trust me I hate Comcast and would be happy to see them get sued into non existence and no longer exist as a company. However at the same time, I have to put some of the fault at the people that keep paying for their services. If nobody paid for Comcast they wouldn't exist anymore. People give them their power, people give them their money, people keep them doing the shit they do.
 
That is what I thought when I read the headline there. Somebody claims that Comcast overcharged, they tried to fight it for 10 years and were getting nowhere. They were offered $50 million to just stop and they accepted it. If they actually had a chance to win they would have held out and gotten more.

Its the problem with things like this, you think all 800,000 customers actually agreed to sue Comcast and 400,001 agreed to this settlement? Class action suits simple use the numbers that are affected and use those numbers as the total number of plaintiffs.

What's disgusting is that Comcast is not paying $50M out, $15 in credits go to 800k subscribers so, basically the people get about $12 million in "credit" from Comcast, or
"temporary Internet upgrades, six free pay-per-view movies, or two free months of the Movie Channel,"
The lawyers get the rest. But its the argument of downloaded movies/music don't necessarily mean a lost in sales, giving away free movies and services doesn't translate to them losing any money. So not only does Comcast keep $875 million dollars of actual cash from overcharging, then they give away stuff that costs them literally nothing.
 
Woohooo! American justice system at work!
Now if the justice system is so screwy, one can only imagine how the rest is!!!

But hey, they still have guns! Yay!
 
Its the problem with things like this, you think all 800,000 customers actually agreed to sue Comcast and 400,001 agreed to this settlement? Class action suits simple use the numbers that are affected and use those numbers as the total number of plaintiffs.

What's disgusting is that Comcast is not paying $50M out, $15 in credits go to 800k subscribers so, basically the people get about $12 million in "credit" from Comcast, or

The lawyers get the rest. But its the argument of downloaded movies/music don't necessarily mean a lost in sales, giving away free movies and services doesn't translate to them losing any money. So not only does Comcast keep $875 million dollars of actual cash from overcharging, then they give away stuff that costs them literally nothing.

That is how they all work. By now I would expect people going into a class action suit know they are not going to get jack shit and that the lawyers come away with most of the money. As for what they are giving away. They actually do have to pay for the movie channels, so they are losing money there. They have to report how many people have the services and have to pay for them, so giving you a free month of HBO or showtime results in them having to pay HBO or Showtime their $10 - $14 per month that they would be charging normally. Just as PPV requires that they pay so much per movie. Faster internet speeds is the only thing that doesn't cost them since they aren't an incumbent. As for the lawyers getting the other $30 or whatever it actually works out to. at 10 years that is only $3 million a year. So they really aren't doing all that great money wise from this case. Not that the amount is bad in general, but for a law firm that would deal in these types of cases that isn't much.
 
Woohooo! American justice system at work!
Now if the justice system is so screwy, one can only imagine how the rest is!!!

But hey, they still have guns! Yay!

What role did the justice system play in two parties settling outside of a court room? Also what does that have to do with guns?
 
I was thinking about Comcast's business model the other day, and I've come to the conclusion that is completely fucking ridiculous. Truthfully, it's not just Comcast, but I was looking at my Comcast bill the other day and it was in the neighborhood of $159 for a single month of cable and internet.

I started thinking, $159 x 12 months = $1908. Watch TV and surf the internet for 10 years and I've bought Comcast a family car. That's just fucking ridiculous, and does not represent the true value of the product which is essentially an entertainment medium with advertisements.

I mostly watch older shows and documentaries, I could buy a shit ton of complete series for $1908, let alone the size of a collection I could accumulate if I spent $159 a month for ten years. I could own everything.

And we know that Comcast will raise their rates probably 10 times over that 10 year span, so I think someone has fallen and bumped their fucking head. /Or more accurately, everyone has fallen and bumped their fucking heads.
 
Let's all express outrage and stuff over an out of court settlement and then complain that poor people are getting stepped on constantly. :rolleyes: Seriously, poor people don't have to pay for cable TV or stream any videos or anything else. They do it because they can't take silence or maybe find something else do to besides sitting around watching some dumb screen for hours. The reason why wealthy people can and should control the world is because they're the ones that are smarter and better than the yucky ones that waste time and money, then complain about how they don't have any money. Whatever...keep whining and feeling like you're entitled to everything at a price you decide you should pay and see if you ever get wealthy.
 
Who says that they were owed that? If I sell you a car for $20,000 and then you learn that the car really was only worth $17,000. Do you have the right to sue me for $3000? Lets say that you do sue me and we are in court for 3 years, if I finally decide to give you $750 to make you go away so that I can stop dealing with this and you accept the $750 is that a problem?

In this case people took Comcast's service then said that they were making the prices higher in Philadelphia higher than they did in other areas. But if the people agreed to pay such prices then they at the time thought the prices were acceptable. It wasn't till they found that other places paid less that they had an issue with the prices. By the same logic, I guess we should all sue McDonalds as last time I got something at one in Chicago I noticed that they charge more there by a $1 or so. Or maybe people that live in cities should sue that they pay more for rent than rural areas.

Trust me I hate Comcast and would be happy to see them get sued into non existence and no longer exist as a company. However at the same time, I have to put some of the fault at the people that keep paying for their services. If nobody paid for Comcast they wouldn't exist anymore. People give them their power, people give them their money, people keep them doing the shit they do.

Got a good laugh at this. Thanks.
 
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